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Jesse Jackson Jr. signs plea deal, reports say

Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., (D-Ill.), who resigned in November in the midst of a criminal investigation, has agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors, according to Chicago media reports.

The 47-year-old Jackson, Jr., son of a civil-rights icon, has been under investigation for diverting tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for personal use, a potential violation of federal law.

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Justice Department officials would not confirm whether any agreement with Jackson Jr., had been reached at this time. Jackson’s defense team also would not confirm any such agreement.

Jackson, Jr., was first elected to the House in Dec.ember 1995, and was once considered one of the Democratic Party’s rising stars.

But his career started to implode after he became embroiled in the scandal surrounding former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), who is now in federal prison after being convicted on a number of federal corruption charges.

Shortly after Obama won the White House in 2008, Jackson lobbied Blagojevich about being appointed to the president’s vacant Senate seat. Jackson reportedly directed Illinois businessman Raghuveer Nayak to tell Blagojevich that he would raise $6 million for the governor’s reelection campaign in return for the Senate appointment, according to a report by the Office of Congressional Ethics. Jackson denied the allegation.

The DOJ indicted Nayak on June 20 on a slew of federal tax and fraud charges. Shortly before Nayak’s indictment, Jackson Jr., disappeared from public view, and he later released a statement saying he was being treated for bipolar disorder.

Jackson Jr., won reelection anyway, but he then resigned from office and acknowledged that he was “cooperating” with federal investigators looking into whether he had misused campaign funds for personal expenses, such as paying for home furniture.